The Devil's Speech

Sitting, standing, walking, running, sleeping, eating! Where can’t we listen to music? It is just too easy to incorporate it into every daily activity. Why are people so addicted to music and trust me, it is an addiction. You can only last a short while without listening to it and then you have to put it on. You get bored and that’s the source of entertainment. What we fail to realise though that by constantly listening to this music it becomes our source of information and guidance. You turn to a particular song or genre depending on your mood or your situation. If you are sad you put on a slow jam if you are happy, it’s pop if you are angry it’s rock or hip hop. There is something for everyone and to suit every occasion. Music, without us realising, messes with the brain and more importantly, with the heart. It distorts your way of thinking and takes you away from reality. It is like a drug because it provides a quick and temporary enjoyment and feeling of happiness. Put on a song you love and forget about life, forget about your problem and enter someone else’s life.

Why do we have to turn to music for this feeling? Nowadays there are so many distractions around that we are not given the opportunity to face our problems. We want to be constantly entertained and distracted so we don’t have to even think about our lives and what we are doing with it. We can’t bare the silence because that leads to thought which leads to reality. Everything is so robotic – Wake up, eat, go to work/ school, come home, eat, watch TV, sleep. And all the while the beat is in our ears and if it is not directly, it is still in our head, humming the tune, whispering the lyrics. And when a song sticks in your head you can never get it out, the time for prayer comes and the song is still in your head. The Arabic flows so parrot fashined that we don’t even realise and the prayer is over and all we have really been thinking about is the number 1 song of the week! What kind of prayer is this? Do we think that this will be accepted?

For every problem we face, we can find a song with the right lyrics to get us through. You here of people saying Britney Spears or so and so got me through this! What kind of bull is this? Even if you don’t say it you know deep down that you do, and I did it too. Every problem was solved by an artist. They reassured me telling me that it will get better and it is normal and what to do about it. Think about what you listen to, what are these people talking about? Don’t just listen; hear the message of the song. They relate to us and our problems and give us a solution. And we foolishly buy into it and we listen to it over and over thinking that it is not affecting us. How it is not affecting our emotions and giving us a false image of life and love and what is cool and what is not and what to wear and how to attract the opposite sex by telling us what they want and don’t want.

Is this the advice we want, the entertainment we need? Those of a non-believer, who probably mocks at the Muslims or even worse are Muslim, yet rap about sex and drugs? For example I heard Akon and T-pain are Muslims, but what do there lyrics consist of? Total obscenity ‘I wanna F*** you and I’m in love with a stripper’! Not only rude topics but this horrible language is persistent, especially amongst rap artists. Our speech should be beautiful therefore so should what we hear! We love these songs, we are so drawn in to it all, dreaming of and aspiring to be like them. To have all the fame, money, cars and women/men. It’s all fake and it’s all materialistic and so far away from reality. But most importantly, being so caught up in the music makes us forget about Allah and what we are really here for. This life is not made for our enjoyment; we are not here to be entertained. We have deeper more profound meaning and if all we want is to be entertained then we can’t fulfil this purpose and if we can’t do this then we can’t get the eternal enjoyment of the hereafter.

‘The material things which you are given are but the conveniences of this life and the glitter of it; but that which is with Allah is better and more enduring. Will you not then be wise?’ (28:60)

I heard a Sheikh say that you can’t have love of music and love of the Quran in one place i.e. the heart. He also said that music is the Quran of the Shaytaan. When I deeply though about this, it makes so much sense. If all we are listening to is music then that is our source of guidance so we love that because of the feeling it gives us. However the Quran should be our only source of guidance and we should love that more than anything. When I used to listen to music I found this exact issue to be true. I couldn’t sit and listen to Quran recitation for long periods of time because I was too addicted to the music so just needed that entertainment. However Alhamdulillah since I have stopped listening to music I can now listen to the Quran but not only that, I love the sound and it moves me and I can sit and contemplate on the meaning. Life is clearer when you face reality, when you use the Quran as is it purpose, for guidance. For every problem, Allah has the solution. When you realise and adopt this you hear how you have never heard things and you see how you have never seen things.

You know, when the Dijaal comes he will attract people to him with the most amazing music. If we love music so much then we will be drawn to him. I’m not going to go into music being haram because there are differences of opinions but we can all agree that the music being produced is definitely haram , because all they do is promote haram, from unlawful relationships to more extreme things. This is not the life of a Muslim so we don’t need to be listening to this. We should hate that lifestyle so we should also hate those who talk about it. Not only the lyrics but the music videos are so disgusting now and they show these freely for our children to watch any time of the day. It is haram for even a woman to see certain parts of another woman (shoulders down to knees) so how can a male watch a music video where most of the time women are dressed like this and dancing provocatively.
To have true imaan we have to submit out life to Allah. He has given us our hearing and sight as a blessing so we have to listen to that which he wants to hear and see that which He wants us to see. And we should love what He loves and hate what He hates.

"Know that the life of this world is only play and amusement, a show and boasting among yourselves, a quest for greater riches and more children. Its similarity is that of vegetation that flourish after rain: the growth of which delights the farmers, then it withers and you see it turn yellow, soon it becomes dry and crumbles away. In the hereafter there will be either severe punishment or forgiveness from Allah and His good pleasure. The life of this world is nothing but an illusion." (57:20)

Don’t get caught up in this life. Don’t seek the pleasures of this world because they are just an illusion and time pass. We are all travelling back to Allah whether we like it or not so don’t waste time because time is all we have. The pleasures of this world are only temporary and the hereafters pleasures are better and forever. Leave this addiction, turn to Allah and enter Islam fully.

Your Sister in Islam x